News

GREATER HARTFORD LABOR COALITON MEETING MINUTES

Greater Hartford Labor Coalition

22 Orange Street

Hartford, Connecticut 06106

Shellye Davis, President

Minutes of the March 1, 2017 Delegates’ Meeting

The meeting was called to order by President Davis at 6:00 p.m. The pledge to the flag was made and roll call of officers taken. Excused were officers: Williams, Cicero-Reynolds and Adgers. Absent were officers: Blanchard, Duff, Fusco, King, O’Toole, Palache, Koch, Cooper and Ocasio. All others were present.

Motion made, seconded and carried to accept the minutes of the previous meeting.

Motion made, seconded and carried to accept the Secretary-Treasurers’ report.

Correspondence was read and carried over to New Business

President’s Report: President Davis thanked us for all our continued hard work and encouraged us to keep up this effort by staying involved in each other’s fights by showing up at rallies, etc. Motion made, seconded and carried to accept the President’s Report.

Topics of Discussion and Community Groups:

Win Heimer, ARA, reported on the ongoing efforts to keep social security, Medicare and prevent attacks on the elderly. A number of bad bills are coming out of the Appropriations Committee he stressed that we have to pay attention to these. He also reported that the ARA’s annual fund-raiser will be held on April 24th at the Manor Inn in Southbury.

Mike Hassett, Roofers Local 9, announced there were 24 bills against prevailing wage at the Capitol and the importance that we fight to eliminate them. They not only affect the building trades but some state police officers as well.

Kim Burton, United Labor Agency, updated us on the following:

* New website = CTULA.org

* Building Pathways Connecticut—women in construction program being offered

President Davis and Secretary-Treasurer Ferrucci updated the delegates on the Eastern Ct. Labor Federation (ALF). The process is taking longer than expected and we have asked for some additional assistance from the International with this, but as of now, we will be called the Greater Hartford Labor Coalition. The ECLF meets the third Tuesday each month at 6:00 p.m., Executive Board, and 6:30 p.m. for the Delegates. More details will be shared in the near future.

A motion was made under New Business, after Brother Ferrucci explained the financial situation that Wayne Burgess is in (from SE Labor Council), as he no longer has a checkbook (due to the ALF) and has to pay some bills. It was unanimously voted, seconded and carried that the GHLC reimburse Brother Burgess for his bills, and once the ALF checkbook is set up, we will reimburse the GHLC from the ALF checkbook.

Executive Board Recommendations:

1. Contribute $150 to the “Tree of Life”

2. Contribute $150 to the ULA.

M/S/C to accept both recommendations.

Good and Welfare:

President Davis announced that she has just received a phone call from Mayor Luke Bronin, City of Hartford, and he will be attending the May 2017 Delegates’ meeting.

Josh Hall announced that he will be running for State Representative, 7th district, should Douglas McCrory win the senatorial seat vacated by former Senator Eric Coleman.

A sympathy card was signed for Jan White who recently lost her brother. Sister White appreciated it very much.

M/S/C to adjourn at 7:15 p.m.

Greater Hartford Labor Coalition

22 Orange Street

Hartford, Connecticut 06106

Shellye Davis, President

Minutes of the February 1, 2017 Delegates’ Meeting

The meeting was called to order by President Davis at 6:00 p.m. The pledge to the flag was made and a moment of silence was held in honor of Eileen Warren, former Executive Secretary at the Ct. State AFL-CIO and active member of OPEIU 376, who passed away. Roll call of officers was taken. Excused were officers: Williams, Allen, McCluskey and Cicero-Reynolds. Absent were officers: Blanchard, Duff, Fusco, O’Toole, White, Andrews, Koch and Ocasio. All others were present.

M/S/C to accept the minutes of the previous meeting.

M/S/C to accept the report of the Secretary-Treasurer as read.

No new delegates present

No Executive Board recommendations

President’s Report:

President Davis asked the delegates if they would like to report on recent activities they have participated in.

Colleen Carter reported on the Women’s march in Philadelphia. Josh Blanchfield and Win Heimer reported on the Hartford Women’s march as well. Brother Blanchfield also reported on his participation in the multiple demonstrations at Bradley International Airport, where the terminal was taken over by demonstrators. Nancy Wyman and George Jepson were two elected officials that also present.

Peggy Buchanan reported on the demonstration at West Hartford Town Hall in support of making sanctuary cities in the state. She also reported on the importance of the upcoming municipal elections and urged us to actively seek participation, especially from union people interested in running for office. She also informed us of happenings at the Capitol, especially the interest in regionalization which would affect collective bargaining agreements.

Guest John Humphries, Ct. Roundtable on Climate and Jobs, reported on their “Lead by Example” program and urged the GHLC to endorse this program. Questions were received and suggestions were made by the delegates.

The meeting was called to order by President Davis at 6:00 p.m. The pledge to the flag was made and roll call of officers was taken. Excused were officers: Janice Williams, Karen Blanchard, Diana Koch, Vincent Fusco and Jackie Aviles. Absent were officers: Blanchard, King, Hall, Palache, Cicero-Reynolds, Cooper and Ocasio. All others were present.

President Davis announced that Sister Williams was recovering from surgery in Virginia which is why she isn’t present tonight and a get-well card was passed around for all to sign. We wish her a speedy recovery.

M/S/C to accept the report of the previous meeting as mailed.

M/S/C to accept the report of the Secretary-Treasurer.

M/S/C to purchase 4 tickets at $65 each to the UAW’s Civil and Human Rights reception at the Hilton to be held on January 13, 2017.

President’s Report:

President Davis reported on the recent rallies held on behalf of the Fight for Fifteen,: She also reported on the December 23rd rally for community health services (ongoing problems); The education funding with lots of cuts coming to our state and the ethics commission issues. President Davis urged us all to stand together and remember to support each other with these very important issues that we, as labor are fighting for (or against). President Davis updated the delegates on the Area Labor Federation (Eastern) and reported that our next meeting will be on January 17th, time change to 6:30. This meeting will be a set-up meeting to establish rules and regulations, etc.

Executive Vice President Boyce reported on concerns some of the IAM has with the ALF’s and are presently in talks with the IAM leaders about the direction they will be taking. He agreed that we must all work together and move on to more important issues that labor is presently facing.

M/S/C to accept the President’s Report.

Constituency Groups:

Win Heimer, ARA, reported on their group’s recent activities: the ongoing fight to keep Medicare and social security with no cuts, the threat to privatize Medicare with vouchers, paid family and medical act, to name a few. He and other delegates spoke on the importance of contacting your local senators and reps on these issues.

It was reported that a Women’s March on Washington, Boston and NYC is coming up on January 21st.

Community Involvement:

Shane Allen, UFCW, reported that the Bob’s store in Bridgeport voted against unionization, 10-8 but plans on continuing to organize more stores.

Joe Messina, reported that the University of Hartford part time faculty is now organized into SEIU, approximately 800 people.

Kim Burton, ULA, reported on a very successful toy drive for the holidays which served 1200 families, 1/8th of them were union families.

Regarding the food drive, special thanks was extended to the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 777 who filled up a 10 foot box truck, loaded with food. Kim explained that each house in need receives about 50 pounds of food and urged us to participate in the Walk against Hunger once again in May this year. President Davis thanked Kim for all this hard work and appreciates all the effort put into these events. She suggested all delegates bring in a can(s) of food to each delegates’ meeting in the future.

Good and Welfare:

President Davis extended her sincere appreciation to all of us for doing the work we do and encouraged us to stay together for the common cause.

Eight hundred thousand workers. That is the number of government employees and contractors impacted by President Trump’s shutdown of the federal government. The average take home pay of impacted workers is around $500 per week, and any financial uncertainty is sure to cause stress and anxiety over how to make ends meet. Each day of this manufactured crisis, working families lose money for housing, healthcare and groceries — the essentials we need to get by.

Furloughed federal employees and out-of-work contractors greeted one another Thursday with a sarcastic nickname that, on the 20th day of a partial government shutdown, captured their feeling of powerlessness: “Hello, fellow pawns.”

They shouted it to one another over the brutal wind and bitter cold on Thursday in downtown Washington, where hundreds gathered to demand government leaders put an end to the shutdown and allow them to get back to work.

In June, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited ruling in Janus v. AFSCME—and it was just as bad as everyone feared. In a 5-to-4 decision, the court found that public-sector unions violated the First Amendment by collecting so-called fair-share fees from workers who aren’t union members but benefit from collective bargaining regardless.

Last week was a bad week for autoworkers and the future of our domestic industry. On Nov. 26, General Motors (GM) announced its decision to halt production at the Lordstown, Ohio, and Hamtramck, Mich., assembly plants, idling thousands of workers.

A series of settlements hammered out over the past few weeks between Marriott and its striking workers in Boston and seven other cities are ushering in groundbreaking benefits that could set a precedent not just for the service industry but for workers nationwide.

The Boston agreement, reached after workers spent more than six weeks on the picket lines, marching and chanting in the wind and rain and snow, includes a roughly 20 percent increase in wages over 4½ years, a 37 percent increase in pension contributions, and six weeks of paid maternity leave, plus two weeks for spouses.

Has the Republican Party’s grand experiment in union-busting finally come to an end? Scott Walker, the Republican governor of Wisconsin, rose to national prominence in 2011 whenhe passeda landmark bill dealing a blow to unions in the state and across the country. With Act 10, Walker stripped public workers of their right to collectively bargain, gutting their salaries, health care, and pensions.

There was plenty of punditry plastered across cable news last week. But, as the dust settles, there is one story that has come to define this election: working people standing together to make a difference. The labor movement unleashed an unprecedented political program this year. Across the country, union members made the difference, fighting for our issues, for union candidates and for our proven allies.